Motor driven fluid administration apparatus



y 2, 1969 w. R. JEWETT 3,456,649

MOTOR DRIVEN FLUID ADMINISTRATION APPARATUS Filed Dec. 3, 1965 5e u gINVENTOR Wm'ven R. JQWQ l 3?) BY ATTORNEY5 Patented July 22, 19693,456,649 MOTOR DRIVEN FLUID ADMINISTRATION APPARATUS Warren R. Jewett,44 Russell Ave., Orange, Conn. 06477 Filed Dec. 3, 1965, Ser. No.511,503 Int. Cl. A61m /22 U.S. Cl. 128-214 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A portable apparatus for use in the administration of liquidsat a controlled rate comprising a syringe with movable plunger, a motor,and drive means all mounted on a patient supported base member. Thedrive means includes a threaded shaft which is arranged to move saidplunger to force liquid from said syringe, The motor is arranged todrive said threaded shaft by means of a pair of gears and is pivotallymounted to enable disengagements of said gears.

This invention relates to an apparatus for administering fluids and moreparticularly to a small and lightweight portable system for theadministration of physiological solutions at a controlled rate.

During the course of treating a patient in a hospital, it is oftenrequired that the patient who is being supplied with fluidsintravenously be moved to another location in the hospital, for example,when it is required that X-rays be taken. The general hospital procedureis to have the bottle providing the intravenous fluid carried on aseparate stand and be transported or rolled along the floor with thevehicle transporting the patient. This is done to maintain theintravenous site open as long as possible so that a doctor is notrequired to start a new site.

It has been found that this modus of operation is quite cumbersome forthe nurse transporting the patient, inasmuch as both the patient and thestand carrying the intravenous fluid must be moved simultaneously.Additionally, in transporting the patient, a sudden turn or stop willoften cause the needle in the patients vein to pull out, thus requiringthat a new intravenous administration site be started.

In order to eliminate the above difficulties, applicant has provided anew, small and lightweight portable system which may be mounted on thepatient, such as on a limb of the patient, and which is capable ofcontinuously providing intravenous physiological fluids to the patientat a controlled rate.

This invention also provides apparatus which is adaptable for use ontest animals, wherein fluids must be administered over long periods oftime. Furthermore, the apparatus of this invention has application fordispensing fluids at a controlled rate, such as required in chemicalanalysis.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new andimproved fluid administrtion apparatus.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved small,lightweight portable apparatus for the administration of physiologicalsolutions to a patient at a controlled rate.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedfluid administration apparatus which may be secured to a patient whilethe patient is in transit so as to maintain an intravenous site open.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedfluid administration apparatus which does not interfere with thelocomotion of a patient or a test animal.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part beobvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the apparatus possessing thefeatures, properties, and relations of elements which will beexemplified in the apparatus hereinafter described and the scope of theinvention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference should be had tothe following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a top view of the fluidadministration apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus ac cording to theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3- of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electric circuit for usein the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1-3.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, there is disclosed at 10 the fluidadministration apparatus according to the invention. The apparatus 10includes a base plate 11 having a strap 12 coupled thereto for securingthe apparatus to a limb of a patient. The base plate 11 may be formedwith a contour similar to that of a limb of the patient and a foamrubber pad may be placed on the underside of the base plate so that theapparatus may be easily secured to the patient. If desired, means suchas hinges may be coupled to the base plate 11 so as to permit theapparatus to be fastened to a stand or animal cage.

A syringe 13 is mounted on the base plate and has a tube 14 extendingtherefrom which is attached to a needle 15. The needle 15 may then beinserted into a patient in the normal manner. The syringe 13 is providedwith a plunger 17 which is movable toward and away from the openingclosest the tube 14. Mounted on top of the plunger 17 is a platten 18which is secured to the top of a threaded shaft 19. The shaft 19 isprovided with a flat 19a so that it may slide in supports 20a and 2012along a corresponding flat provided in these supports. Positionedbetween Supports 20a and 20b is a drive gear 21 having a threaded hub 22for engaging the shaft 19. The gear 21 meshes with a gear 23 mounted ona shaft 24 of an electric motor 25. The electric motor 25 is positionedon a support 26 which is piv-otally mounted at 27 to the base plate 11.At one end of support 26 there is provided a spring 28 which normallymaintains the gears 21 and 23 in a meshing position. Also coupled tosupport 26 is a member 29 which, when depressed, may pivot motor 25 suchthat the gear 23 disengages the gear 21. Thus, after the plunger hasbeen driven to the left (FIG. 1) by rotation of the gear 23 and gear 21,member 29 may be depressed to disengage gear 23 from gear 21 so thatgear 21 may be rotated manually to return the plunger to its initialraised starting position. A battery 32 is also mounted on base plate 11for providing energy to drive the motor 25.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is disclosed an electrical circuit foroperating and controlling the rate of fluid discharge from syringe 13.This circuit has the motor 25 and the battery 32 coupled in series witha potentiometer 33, an on-off switch 35 and a rnicroswitch 36. Themicroswitch 36 is positioned as shown in FIG. 1 for engaging the platten18 so that the motor 25 may be deenergized. The switch 36 is normally ina closed position until it is opened by the platten 18. To adjlist therate of fluid discharge, the resistance of the potentiometer 33 isadjusted to control the current flow provided to the motor.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description, are efliciently attained and,since certain changes may be made in the above construction withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intendedthat all matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

1. Fluid administration apparatus comprising a support member adapted tobe afiixed to a patient, a syringe mounted to said base, said syringehaving a movable plunger, a motor, drive means, said drive meansincluding a shaft threadably received in support means therefor so thatrotation of said shaft produces linear movement of said shaft, saidshaft being arranged to move said plunger to force liquid from saidsyringe, a first gear threadably engaging said shaft, and a second gearmounted on the shaft of the motor for driving said first gear, saidmotor being pivotally mounted to said support member so that said motormay be pivoted to disengage said gears.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said support means comprises spacedapart members and said first gear is mounted to said shaft between saidsupport members.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further including biasing means urging saidfirst and second gears into engagement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,498,672 2/1950 Glass 128-2182,574,263 11/1951 Hinds 74-405 3,335,724 8/1967 Gifuapp 128-273 416,85812/1889 Riley 74-4248 1,418,007 5/1922 Lustig 74-849 1,681,404 8/ 1928Hardman 74-849 2,086,830 7/1937 Thompson 74-849 2,409,432 10/1946Hubbard 128-133 XR 2,533,961 12/1950 Rousseau et a1 128-133 3,167,0722/1965 Stone et a1. 128-133 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner MARTINF. MAJESTIC, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 128-218

